DusktoDust_Final3 Page 24

  “It’s true. I saw it with my own eyes,” Letsego assured him. “But why do you care? You have nothing invested here.”

  “You’re right,” David said flatly. Alana had been the only person in the galaxy who he truly cared for. Without her, nothing else mattered. “And that is exactly why I am willing to fight them.” She would want him to. She would want him to stand up for what was right.

  Letsego didn’t totally understand, but he didn’t have to. “Either way, there is no question in my mind that the Federation is on its way here.” He sat up. “We have to get Burleigh to look at that recording.”

  David laughed. “And how do we do that from here?”

  Letsego shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  Just then the cell door opened. Two PKs entered. “Get up,” one of them directed.

  David continued to lie on his bunk. “Why, we just got here?”

  The PK was not interested in playing games. He grabbed David’s arm and pulled him to his feet. “Someone wants to see you.” He turned David around and slapped cuffs on him.

  David looked to Letsego, who was also being put in handcuffs. “Great. Maybe I can talk to them about some better accommodations.”

  The PK didn’t find the smuggler amusing. He shoved him out of the cell and led him down the corridor. Letsego and his escort followed.

  23: The Peacekeeper Queen

  The PKs led the two prisoners through the labyrinth of corridors and lifts within Defiance. It had been a long time since David had been on a star cruiser and the experience brought back memories. A handful of his years in the service had been spent stationed on a ship like this. That was one part he didn’t miss. Life on a capital ship could be cramped, monotonous, and boring. That did not appear to be the case today.

  The guards led them through a hatch marked “COMMAND DECK”. Soon David found himself and Letsego standing in a large office, in front of a large desk, with an oversized plush chair behind it.

  As David waited in silence, he heard the door open behind him. Captain Burleigh marched into the office and took up a position along the right wall. David glanced at Letsego, who kept his eyes front, ignoring the officer. Well, if he wasn’t going to say anything, David was.

  “What the hell is going on here, Captain?” he demanded.

  “What’s going on is you are about to be held accountable for your crimes.”

  David laughed in disbelief. “Our crimes? That’s what you’re worried about right now? Captain you have no idea what is really going on here. Your ignorance should be a crime.”

  “Carpenter, not now,” Letsego said from beside him.

  “No, this man is one of the most incompetent officers I’ve ever dealt with, and trust me, I’ve had some bad ones. Somebody needs to know what’s going to happen if they don’t listen to what we have to say.”

  “You are out of line, Mr. Carpenter,” Burleigh growled, taking a step towards him.

  “You don’t get to pull that shit on me, Burleigh. I’m not one of your Peaks. I don’t report to-”

  “Attention on deck!” one of the PKs bellowed. Burleigh snapped to attention, as did Letsego, as best he could with his hands cuffed. David continued to stand at ease.

  In marched three Peacekeepers. The first was a woman who wore the insignia of a commodore. She was flanked by two men, a major and a command color sergeant.

  “As you were,” she said, and the military personnel in the room relaxed. She turned to Burleigh. “Alright, Captain. What was so damn important?”

  “Ma’am, I have two individuals here who have committed multiple felonies. I would like to take Staff Sergeant Letsego to general court martial and Mister Carpenter to trial. Major Hastings has all the paperwork. He said you would be able to arraign them today.”

  “Very well.” She turned to the major, who handed her a tablet. She began reading through it.

  David felt this was getting out of hand. “Ma’am, if you will listen to me-” The commodore held up her finger, cutting him off. Five minutes later, when it appeared she had fully read through whatever documents they had against David and Letsego, she looked up.

  “All right gentlemen,” she said to the prisoners. “I am Commodore Andrea Long, Deputy Commander of the Tango Sector. Admiral Beleruis is currently on leave so that makes me Acting Commander. This is not your trial. That will come later so please do not argue with me. I’ve had a long day.” She looked down at the tablet. “Both of you are facing some very severe charges. Staff Sergeant, you are accused of two counts of disobeying a lawful order from a Peacekeeper officer, one count of tampering with evidence, and one count of participating in illicit and criminal activities.” She turned to David. “Mr. Carpenter, you are in a much worse position.”

  “Ma’am, you have to-”

  She cut him off again. “Let me finish. While in UN space you are expected to adhere to all Peacekeeper regulations. You are being charged with one count of possessing false identification, one count of smuggling, three counts of resisting arrest, four counts of attempted murder, and one count of murder in the first degree.” Her face was condemning. “If even half of that sticks you will be going away for a very long time, Mr. Carpenter.”

  “Ma’am, I am by no means a saint. But there is something going on right now that is bigger than any of this. You need to hear Staff Sergeant Letsego out.”

  Commodore Long frowned. “Captain, do you know what he is talking about?”

  Burleigh fidgeted. “Ma’am, they have been spinning stories to get themselves out of this mess.”

  Letsego broke his silence. “Sir, I gave you credible intel of a direct threat to Prospect. However, you failed to look at it.”

  Long looked at Burleigh. “What intel is he talking about, Captain? Where is it?”

  “Ma’am, it is evidence. It will be addressed in the court martial.”

  “With all due respect, ma’am,” Letsego said. “If you don’t look at this now we may not have a court martial.”

  “I don’t like your tone, staff sergeant.” She paused. “Tell me what this intel is and maybe I’ll indulge you.”

  Letsego cleared his throat. “It’s best for me to start from the beginning, ma’am…” Over the next five minutes, Letsego summarized the events of the past week. Listening to the story from another perspective reminded David of how farfetched this story sounded. From the events in the Skull Pit, to the Mr. Black, to the alliance between the Federation, Windcorp, and Black Crescent, it all sounded ridiculous.

  “So you’re telling me,” Commodore Long said when Letsego was finished, “that you broke out of Peacekeeper custody, tracked Carpenter into a Windcorp mining facility, and stowed away on a Windcorp ship all on a hunch?”

  Letsego fumbled for a good answer. “Yes, ma’am,” was all he could come up with.

  “And in doing so, you uncovered an alliance between Windcorp and the Asiatic Federation, and witnessed the trade of some sort of super weapon? What exactly is this weapon they had?”

  “I don’t know if I can accurately describe it. Words don’t do it justice. You need to see what it can do, ma’am.”

  “The intel you have, is that what it shows?”

  Letsego nodded.

  “Where is it now?” She asked Burleigh.

  He protested. “This is all a ruse to take the spotlight off them, ma’am.”

  “Get the intel now, Captain. Or you will be facing a court martial, too.”

  Hesitantly, Burleigh left the office. The group waited in silence for him to get back. He returned carrying Letsego’s Windcorp helmet.

  “It’s on the memory card in there, ma’am,” Letsego said.

  “Put it on the vid screen,” she directed.

  Burleigh, no longer protesting but clearly not happy, walked to the data console and put the helmet data card into the card reader. Instantly the feed from Letsego’s helmet appeared on the wall sized vid screen behind the commodore’s
desk. For the second time, David watched the terrifying events that had taken place on the Black Crescent asteroid.

  “What is that?” Long said as the vid screen showed Castle lifting up the Titan weaponry. “It looks like some type of rock.”

  “It’s alien weaponry, commodore,” David said. “More formidable than anything in the Peacekeeper arsenal.”

  Long kept her eyes on the screen. “It doesn’t look threatening.” Letsego and David didn’t comment. The room was silent as the vid progressed. There was a near audible gasp when Castle fired on the first prisoner.

  “What was that?” exclaimed the major, his surprise evident. “A death ray?”

  Commodore Long held up her hand. “Let it play all the way through.” She was mesmerized by the screen.

  They all watched. David could have dropped an anvil on the floor and no one would have turned away. They watched Castle execute another prisoner with the Titan rifle. And then they watched the alien grenade go off. That was the most terrifying part. The red smoke consumed the prisoners, leaving there bodies little more than skeletons.

  The vid concluded with the forced alliance that Mr. Black formed with Prime Minister Chen. Then it cut to black.

  No one said anything for fifteen seconds.

  “Those weapons,” the major finally said. “They are from Prospect? But where? No colony has ever reported finding evidence of any type of ancient civilization on the planet.”

  “There’s a first for everything,” David responded.

  “How does it work? What is that red substance?”

  “If Mr. Black is telling the truth, it is Rockworm,” Letsego said, “applied in some way that our scientists have not released yet.”

  “But that’s impossible,” Captain Burleigh said. “Rockworm can’t be used as a weapon. It’s just dust.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Commodore Long said sharply. “It doesn’t matter how it works. It doesn’t matter where it’s from.” She looked at Letsego. “How much of this weaponry does Windcorp and the Federation have?”

  Letsego looked at David. “How large was the cargo hold of the Windcorp transport?”

  “At least twice the size of two ore shipping containers,” David estimated.

  “Mr. Black said that was only half of the alien relics that Windcorp had unearthed,” Letsego added.

  It wasn’t the answer Long was looking for. “But what does that translate to in weaponry? What kind of fire power can they bring to bear on us?.”

  Letsego looked at David. “Carpenter?”

  David analyzed the facts for a second. “In the vid, Mr. Black mentioned that Windcorp had tested this stuff both in the atmosphere and in vacuum. It doesn’t matter if he was talking about genuine Titan weaponry like we just saw, or tech reverse engineered by Windcorp. One warhead tipped with this stuff could easily take out a capital ship. All of your craft are made out of metal and this Rockworm basically feeds on metal according to the video.” He looked up at the commodore. “Ma’am, whether all of the Titan weapons could fit in the cargo hold of the Catalyst or there are massive caverns of the tech beneath some Windcorp mining facility, I think you need to face the worst case scenario; equipped with this stuff, Windcorp and the Federation easily have enough fire power to take Prospect and destroy every ship you have in orbit.”

  After a long pause, Commodore Long nodded. “That is what I was afraid of. I sadly came to the same conclusion.” She paced around her desk and paused, deep in thought.

  When she looked up it was like a switch had been flipped. Her stoic demeanor was gone, replaced by a sense of urgency. “Color sergeant, what is our current count for the fleet?”

  The senior enlisted Peacekeeper did not have to reference any documents. “The Aurora just returned yesterday from refit, ma’am. That brings us to eight interdictors and four cruisers. Among them we have thirteen interceptor and five ‘boat squadrons.”

  “Mr. Hastings,” Long said to the major. “Get on the hook to the commanders. We are now at ALERTCON-TWO. Have them adjust their watches appropriately. I want at least a third of our interceptors in the air at all times. And position the fleet along likely approaches for ships coming from Federation space.

  “Lastly,” she turned to the card reader and pulled out the memory card. “Take this to the information office. Make as many copies as you need, but they are to be classified Top Secret CEO”- Captain’s Eyes Only- “and get one to every ship in the fleet. That’s hand carry only. I don’t want this getting out on the net. And send a copy with a tier one courier to fleet command. They need to know what’s going on.”

  The major took the card and nodded. “Aye, ma’am.” With that he turned and quickly left.

  Commodore Long then turned to David and Letsego. “Color sergeant, release these men.”

  Surprise suddenly filled Burleigh’s face. “Ma’am?! Wait! No, you can’t let them go. These men are felons. They belong in the brig.”

  “Right now they belong where they are most useful to me in combating this new threat.”

  “Ma’am, what about the charges?”

  “I am suspending the charges,” she said definitively.

  “But-” Burleigh continued to protest.

  “Captain, you’re relieved.”

  “Excuse me? I am your intelligence officer.”

  “And in the past hour I have been provided ten times as much intelligence by these two men than you have ever given me.” Long said gesturing to David and Letsego. “Gentlemen, please show the good captain out. He is to wait in his quarters until I say otherwise.”

  His displeasure evident, Burleigh was escorted from the office by the two PK guards. As he passed David, the smuggler gave him an overt grin. He had known the officer less than four hours but was more than happy to see the man put in his place.

  With him gone, the color sergeant removed both the prisoners’ cuffs. His hands free, David was surprised to see Commodore Long extend her hand to him.

  “Captain Carpenter, I know that coming to the Peacekeepers must have not been the first thought you had when you discovered your situation, but I thank you for putting your personal allegiances aside and acting for the greater good.” She then turned to Letsego. “And staff sergeant, your initiative and quick thinking was what brought this whole situation to light. You both were right to bring this to me.”

  “Ma’am, the whole Federation fleet is on its way here,” David said. “With all due respect you’re gonna to need more than this garrison to defend Prospect.”

  The Commander of the Tango Fleet nodded. “I know. I’m going to send a message to Corsica requesting reinforcements. But that will take time, time I’m not sure we have.” That thought spurred her into action. “If you’ll excuse me I have quite a few things to take care of. Color sergeant, see that they are taken care. I want them to go through a full debrief. You gentlemen are on the front lines now. I want you close at hand when this battle goes down.” With that the Commodore was gone.

  24: Ad Astra Per Aspera

  “ACTION STATIONS. ACTION STATIONS. ALERT CONDITION TWO IS NOW IN EFFECT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ACTION STATIONS. ACTION STATIONS…”

  The giant voice was accompanied by blaring sirens and flashing orange lights, both of which succeeded in rousing Letsego from his deep slumber. His eyes snapped open.

  “…ACTION STATIONS. ACTION STATIONS…” the ship’s PA system continued to drone.

  He had participated in dozens of these drills before. Muscle memory took over. He swiftly swung his legs out of bed and made his way to the wardrobe in his newly assigned stateroom in two long strides. In less than thirty seconds he was dressed in the splotched gray, blue, and black pattern of the Peacekeeper battle dress uniform. He pulled on his boots, strapped a holstered pistol to his leg, and was out the door.

  He wiped the sleep from his eyes as he made his way through the corridors of Defiance. The past twelve hours had been a marathon of debrief
ings from a dozen different organizations on the command ship. Letsego was no stranger to intelligence debriefs, but even he had to admit that after the events of the past week he was exhausted. He was elated when the briefings were done and he had been afforded the opportunity to grab a bite to eat and get some sleep.

  Some being the operative word. He checked his watch. Just over four hours. That was how much time he had rested. Well, some sleep is better than no sleep.

  Carpenter strode up next to him, now dressed in his spacer’s clothing. “You’d think the Federation would be considerate enough to let us get a full night’s sleep,” he said, echoing Letsego’s thoughts.

  “We don’t know it’s the Federation,” he commented.

  “Well, this damn sure isn’t a drill. Who else do you think rates this kind of welcoming?”

  Letsego did the math. Baoshi was where the Federation Fleet was based, and that was at least two days away at cruiser speeds. “We left the Belt thirty five hours ago. They cannot have traveled from Baoshi to Prospect in that time.”

  “That’s if you’re making the assumption that their fleet was at Baoshi when we left the Belt.”

  The two of them headed for the combat operations center. Commodore Long had left them orders to report to her there once they were rested. Letsego didn’t know what exactly qualified as well rested, but he assumed the COC was where she would be at this point.

  The main door was guarded by two Peacekeepers. “I’m sorry, staff sergeant. Only essential personnel in the COC right now,” said the sergeant.

  Letsego attempted to step around him. “The commodore directed us to come here, sergeant. Now let us through.”

  The sergeant looked at him strangely. “The commodore?” he said skeptically. “Staff sergeant, we’re in condition two right now. The directive is for all personnel to report to their sections. The commodore is busy right now.”